Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-04-21
CHAPTER VII.
WE ENTER KUKUANALAND.

ALL that afternoon we travelled on along
the magnificent roadway, which headed
steadily in a north-weSterly direction. In
fad0os and Scragga walked with us, but their
fellows marched about one hundred PAGES
ahead.
'.Infadoos, said at length, 'who made
this road?''
ut was made my lord, Of old time, none
know how or when, not even the wise w0-
man Gagool, who has lived for generations.
We are not old enough to remember its
making. None can make such roads now,
but the king lets no grass grow upon it,
And whose are the writings on the walls
of the caves through which we have passed
on the rOad?' | asked, referring to the Egyp-
tian-lille sculptures we had seen.
My lord, the hands that made the road
wrote the wonderful writings. We know
not who wrote them"
"When did the Kukuana race come into
this country?'
My lord, the race came down here like
the breath of storm ten thousand thousand
moons ago, from the great lands which lie
there beyond" and he pointed to the north.
They could travel no further, so say the
old voices Of our fathers that have come
down to us, the children, and so says Gagool,
great mountains which ring in the land, -
and he pointed 30 the snow-clad peaks. THE
country, too, was good, so they settled here
and grew strong and powerful, and now our
numbers are like the sea-sand, and when
Twala the king calls up his regiments their
plumes cover the plain as far as the eye Of
man can reach"
"And if the land is walled in with noun
tains, who is there for the regiments to fight
WITH"
Nay, my lord, the country is open there, !"
and again he pointed toward the north, land
now and again warriors sweep down upon
us in clouds from land we know not, and
we Stay them. 1t is the third part of the life
of man since there was a war Many
thousand died in it, but we destroyed those
who came to eat us up. So since then there
has been no war"
your warriors must grow weary of rest
ing on THEN spears"
My lord, there was one war, just after we
destroyed the people that came down upon
us, but it was a civil war, dog eat dog"
How was that?'
MY, lord, the king, my half-brother, had
brother born at the same birth, and OF the
same woman. 1t is not our custom, my lord,
to let twins live, the weakest must always
die But the mother of the king hid away
the weakest child, which was born last, for
her heart yearned over it, and the child
is Twala the king. [ am his younger broth
er born of another WIFE,"
"WeIl?'
'My lord, Kafa our father. dieI when we
came to manhood, and my brother Imotu
was MADE king in his place, and for a space
reigned and had a son by his favorite wife.
When the babe was three years old, just at
ter the great war, during which no man
could SOW or reap, famine came upon the
land, ana the people murmured because of
the famine, and looked round like a starved
lion for something to rend. Then it was that
Gagool, the wise woman, who does not die,
proclaimed to the people, saying, The King
Imotu is 10 king And at the time Imotu
was sick with wound, and lay in his hut
not able to move.
'Then Gagool went into hut and led out
Twala, my half-brother, and the twin broth
er of the king, whom she had hidden since
he was born among the caves and rocks, and
stripping the 'Inoocha' (waist-cloth) off his
loins showed the people of the kukuanaS
the mark of the sacred snake coiiej round
his waist, wherewith the eldest son of the
king is marked at BIRTH and cried out loud,
Behold, your king whom | have saved for